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Serena Kerrigan spoke with PEOPLE exclusively about her recent partnership with Neutrogena and the launch of its newest product, the Collagen Bank 15% Vitamin C SerumThe media personality penned a two-part short story series, titled Bank Your Glow, as part of the launch, inspired by her own dating life experiencesKerrigan also opened up about her romance with boyfriend Felix Levine and how this relationship is different from others she’s had in the past
Serena Kerrigan knows summer is hot — but she’s turning the heat it up a notch, anyway.
The social media influencer spoke with PEOPLE exclusively about ways to enhance your natural glow both on the outside and from within via her latest partnership with Neutrogena and the debut of its newest product, the Collagen Bank 15% Vitamin C Serum.
As part of the launch, Kerrigan — who’s known as the “queen of confidence” to her million-plus followers across Instagram and TikTok — is adding her unfiltered flair to the glow-inducing collaboration through the medium she knows best: storytelling.
The media personality merged the launch with BookTok by penning two short-stories for Neutrogena’s Bank Your Glow series, one inspired by her personal dating life and the second created with a “fantasy” she had in mind.
Serena Kerrigan pens two-part short stories for Neutrogena’s “Bank Your Glow” series.
Alec Lee Photography
“It just felt really fresh and unexpected,” Kerrigan tells PEOPLE exclusively of the unique opportunity to use her voice as part of the collaboration with the beauty brand. “This was such a different way to approach it … I love the idea of storytelling as a way to introduce a product.”
The Let’s F—g Date founder favors a “steamy” read, in part because of the “just-had-a-moment glow” that can result from it — just like the effect of Neutrogena’s next-gen skin-evening serum. Now, the content creator’s two-part series is setting readers up to get a flush.
“It was really exciting to write two stories about romance, feeling sexy and being in this spicy chapter in your life where the female protagonists are extremely confident in their own skin,” the star of Older, Hotter, Wiser? teases. “I felt like I was able to really just balance out these two worlds.”
While Kerrigan is an advocate for self love and empowerment from within, she prioritizes self care in all forms. Skincare, specifically, is an area that she’s placed extra attention as of late in comparison to when she was younger.
“Your skin, your face … It’s how you enter the world and see the world, and it’s so important to take care of it,” she says. “Now that I’m 31, I care about it more than ever. I’m washing my face before I go to bed, not like I did in my 20s when I would wake up in a mascara-stained pillow.”
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Serena Kerrigan partners with Neutrogena.
The New York native calls the partnership with Neutrogena a “dream” because she’s “been a fan” of the brand’s products since she was a little girl. The Vitamin C Serum, which she praises for its glow-inducing and plumping effects, has been key to embracing her skin as-is. “I feel like that’s really, really changed my skin,” she says. “It’s really amazing moisturizer.”
“Even just five years ago I hid behind tons of makeup, eyelash extensions and I bleached my hair,” she admits, then shared her realization, “I think that confidence is really about learning how to feel really good in your own skin and taking off that mask.”
“And that has been my development with skincare,” she shares. “The more confident I am internally, the more confident I am actually externally as well — and the one thing to continue that journey is by taking really great care of your skin and feeling confident and liberated to not wear makeup.”
Serena Kerrigan.
John Nacion/Variety/Getty
Kerrigan rattles off a few of her holy grail beauty products that she’s been using this summer. “I would say I love a hypochlorous acid spray. I feel like that’s really good when you’re sweating,” she begins. Another must? “Sunscreen.”
“Micellar water,” is also a go to of hers this time of year. “I love to do a double cleanse where I do that kind of more of an oily cleanser and then pair it with something a little lighter… In the summer, it’s really just about keeping it clean and exfoliating.”
The TikTok star credits much of her confidence these days to “nurturing the relationship” she has with herself. In fact, making that a priority in her life has allowed her to enter a relationship with someone else, her boyfriend Felix Levine.
While the TV personality deems her romance with him “love at first sight” upon first meeting on his Unlike Me podcast, it’s his ability to make her “feel safe” that she says sets him apart from other men she’s dating in the past.
Serena Kerrigan and her boyfriend, Felix Levine.
Serena Kerrigan/Instagram
“It’s about feeling being able to be naked in your skin and in who you are in front of them, not physically, but really just the most raw version of yourself,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively. “You shouldn’t feel any anxiety. You shouldn’t be editing yourself.”
“That is what you need to look for 100% is safety,” she emphasizes of a partner. “Emotionally and mentally safe in front of someone, because at the end of the day, that’s who you want in a partner is someone that you could just be your 100% percent self with — and they’re going to love you for it.”